The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild Details: Exploration, Combat, Temple of Time and More

This isn’t the Zelda of previous years by a long shot.

If you didn’t know better, you would think that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the Wii U and NX bound title in the Zelda series, was a mash-up of the franchise’s core elements, Skyrim and even a bit of Dark Souls.

The game was showcased during Nintendo’s Treehouse stream at E3. We already covered how it starts out and how Link will acquire different weapons in the open world. In this iteration, weapons can break – as seen with the rusty broadsword – but you can also steal weapons from enemies during combat. Hearts are no longer found in the wild to recover health. Instead, you gather food which restores bits of your hearts meter. Similarly, like an open world RPG, Link will discover different clothing items, weapons like the bow and arrow and much more to become stronger on his journey.

A special note about the story-telling – after the opening cut scene sets the tone, you’re free to travel wherever you want in Hyrule. Occasionally a voice will chime in to discuss what you should be doing but you can otherwise head anywhere. The story itself is fairly minimal and Link is left to discover things on his own. For instance, you come across the Temple of Time, a hallmark location from Ocarina of Time, in ruins. There you’ll find some familiar enemies from the first trailer of the game but no longer functional. A time lapse is hinted at, which makes us think that there’s someway to alter time in the new Zelda.

The overall tone is distinctly Zelda-like, even with the new anime-esque art style, but the world has been significantly expanded with survival elements, exploration and a vast open space to explore. And when we say “vast” we mean it – the plateau is literally one small portion of an enormous map.

What are your thoughts on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Let us know in the comments.